


This Is Beyond ( Halloween )

by akingman



Series: Beyond Halloween-y [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: A little spooky, Character Death, F/F, F/M, Four Horsemen, Halloween, M/M, Multi, Pumpkins, Spoopy time, Vampires, Werewolves, mlm and wlw solidarity, romcom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2020-10-27 06:01:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20755514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akingman/pseuds/akingman
Summary: Once a year on Halloween night the Great Magic Pumpkin opens a portal between the human world and Beyond. On this night the creatures from Beyond get to walk the Human world and enjoy Earth’s greatest holiday. But, the Great Magic Pumpkin has started to show decay in its powers over the past two hundred years. The Beyond Laws are the five Lords who dictate Beyond. They decree that the magic needed to power the teleportation from world to world is disappearing. It could be that this is the last year that monsters and humans walk the same ground. Meanwhile, The Four Horsemen are making plans that could ruin the last year of Halloween and life forever. A group of young teens face candy, horror, love and magic and must work together to save Earth, Halloween and their home Beyond.





	This Is Beyond ( Halloween )

Andrew hears the clawing start from the end of his bed, long fingernails dragging against wood in slow rhythm. A shudder runs along his spine, he twitches and pulls himself into a ball. He’s half asleep, rubbing circles into his eyes when he sees a pair of eyes peek out from over his covers. They’re bright red like the moon outside his window, a full moon as everyone expects on this singular day. The glow coming from the bedroom window from the moon now casts a shadow over the the form by his feet. A hand sneaks out to grasp his ankle and he forcefully shoves both feet into the awaiting arms of the intruder.

“Andrew!” The familiar voice shrieks before falling into a fit of laughter on the floor. His brilliant and large white bird wings stretch out and flutter in the air before resting against his back.

“What?” Andrew asks, exasperated and caught off-guard. 

“You know what!” Nicky says. He rises from the floor and puts both hands down on the blanket. 

“And what is that?” Andrew asks. He throws the covers over his legs and places his bare feet on the cold wood floor of his bedroom. Nicky leans close to his knees and smiles up at him.

“It’s today! Halloween! Beyond Year!” Nicky exclaims. “Are you not excited?” He means to assume Andrew hardly ever is, which would be true. 

“And?”

“The festival starts tonight and Aaron agreed to go on errands with me so I can make that special meal, you know? The one that you love with pumpkin-”

“Nicky,” Andrew says and yawns into his fist.

“Andrew.” Nicky cocks his head to the side, willing to put up a fight. When Andrew doesn’t, he continues. “It’s a huge deal. Think of the candy, Andrew! The sweet, sweet delicious candy poisoned by their government! And Eric is waiting for me on Earth and he’ll be coming here this time-”

“Eric, Eric, Eric,” Andrew chides and stands up from his bed. He leaves Nicky and enters the hallway, first looking along the walls where shelves hold spider plants with real leaves entwined in long ropes between each shelf, making the halls look like a jungle. Aaron and Nicky detested them at first, but drew back on their complaints when they realized the plants improved Andrew’s mood. 

Nicky huffs and follows after him, closing his bedroom door for him and making noises of protest. He mutters about the floor and being kicked while Andrew touches every other plant, waking them and alerting them that he’s up. The plants with their branches like hands curl around his hands and fingertips, kissing the pads of his fingers before letting go. They were magicked by witches to do so, to come alive. A few try to pull him back and he evades them, telling them he will feed them soon. For something dead literally and metaphorically, Andrew is always surrounded by living things. Nicky watches and when he reaches out, hoping maybe today the plants would be agreeable with him, he gets pricked. By what he does not know, and he pulls back with an exaggerated yelp. Andrew turns to look at him. 

“Why did you make them only like you?” Nicky quips with a frown. “That’s not fair.”

Andrew turns to him while he reaches the threshold of the kitchen, where he knows Aaron is already. He shakes his head. “They like who they like. You’re just annoying.”

Nicky gawks and points at Andrew, waiting for Aaron to look over. “Do you hear that?” Nicky asks bewildered, although he’s not. “Rude.”

Aaron finally glances up from the cup in his hands and shakes his head at both Nicky and Andrew. “The plants like me,” he says with a smug smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “I can’t help you.”

Andrew walks to the cupboard and fishes out the same cup he drinks from every day and turns to Aaron. “That’s because they think you’re me.” Nicky laughs a few feet away, head in the refrigerator to find something to eat and Aaron imitates throwing a utensil at him. All of their utensils are wood, environmentally healthy, and wouldn’t hurt Nicky too much if he actually threw it. Nicky finds what he’s looking for and retreats back down the hall, a door shutting behind him, where the twins presume is his bedroom. Aaron turns to Andrew and narrows his eyes.

“I hope you’re not thinking of going to the human world with Roland again.” Aaron says, tone sharp. He gives Andrew a grimace and drinks from the cup, liquid red staining his upper lip. Andrew stares at that instead of his brother’s eyes. “We both know what happened last time.”

Andrew turns his gaze to his brother’s shoes and glares. His lips curl, uncurl and pucker to the side while he thinks. “You don’t know the half of it,” Andrew replies. He moves to the refrigerator and takes out a carton of Bat Juice. “I can take care of myself,” Andrew says though when the words come out, he finds it hard to believe them. He looks up and sees that Aaron’s thinking the same. 

“I’m worried,” Aaron says quickly, pausing to backtrack the statement, “that you’re going to end up killing yourself.”

Andrew snaps his head up, a frown turning into a scowl. “Says you.” Andrew snaps. He sets the carton on the counter, heavy handed, and the carton’s bottom caves in due to the weight and force of his anger. “You sound like a hypocrite.”

Aaron leans against the counter at his back, face looking shrunk, red in the cheeks like he’d been slapped. “We both know this is different.” His hand reaches out, palm up and twists into a point which he directs at Andrew. “At least I know my heart won’t be broken by the same person twice.”

Andrew is saved from replying to the direct hit when Nicky slides into the kitchen wearing only a pair of white socks and an over-sized button down shirt. On the shirt is the image of a wolf’s head sewn where his heart would be. Nicky stops and looks at their serious faces. 

“Don’t be so mad, guys,” he says waving his hands, warding off their sour moods. “It’s a day of joy and happiness and bugs and monsters and death!” He slides across the floor, nearly tripping, to get to Aaron. He tries to wrap his arms around Aaron’s neck and gets punched in the gut. 

“Come on!” Nicky yells and follows Aaron’s escape from the kitchen into the living room. Aaron sits on a chair resting against the side wall of the room in front of three large windows, covered by dark red drapes. He picks up a magazine and sets it on his lap, though he won’t read it. Nicky stands in front of Aaron, pouting with his hands on his hips. 

“What?” Aaron snips at Nicky. He turns to look at Andrew but Andrew’s looking away, out the window in the kitchen above the sink. 

“Just one day can we all get along?” Nicky asks.

Aaron huffs. “We always get along, I was just reminding Andrew to not be stupid and get himself killed tonight.”

Nicky looks back at Andrew. Andrew places his cup, half empty, into the sink. He washes his hands, dries them on his pants and turns to face the others.

“Is this about Roland?” Nicky asks carefully, watching Andrew.

Andrew moves to the coat hanger, tall, colored gold with arms that could hold several jackets at once. There were four on the bottom arms, two belonged to Nicky and the other two were a matching set for Aaron and Andrew, gifted by Andrew’s friend Renee. Aaron refused to wear his when the others were around, and Andrew wore his out of respect for his friend. Andrew put his coat on and leveled both Nicky and Aaron with a look. 

“Why don’t we talk about Katelyn?” Andrew asks. Aaron glares up at him and makes a move to stand up. Nicky puts his hand to Aaron’s chest and pushes him back down. Andrew opens the door and stands between the house and the outside world. 

“It’s not the same.” Aaron says, voice drifting in sound from the distance, Andrew barely hearing the intensity of his tone. 

“It is,” Andrew said and closed the door behind him as he left.

* * *

Outside the breeze picked up the leaves scattered across their yard, blowing them into the air and clearing off the beginning of the rock path towards town. In his pocket he toyed with the keys in his hands and felt the bad air between him and his brother dissipate.

There was no Winter, Spring or Summer on Beyond. It was always fall and always a temperature mix of chilly and warm. There was an overabundance of pumpkins in season. The orange leaves, sky and pigment of the moon printed in the sky grew on him through childhood, same as the pumpkin flavored drinks or candy flavored rat tails. While humans saw these things as a holiday worth one day, it was their entire life. 

Every year they went to Earth to celebrate what the humans called Halloween. And every time they came back Andrew knew Beyond was his home. Humans lived in complicated ways that made his head swim, and they were mortal, so they died leaving things and people unfinished. They ate man-made disgusting plates and used things for eating instead of their hands, which Andrew detested. Humans fought more and tried to look the same but Andrew saw them for what they were- ugly. Monsters were beautiful, humans were not. In his town and on his planet, things were constant and rarely changed. He liked that and preferred it that way. 

Andrew passed houses that looked like his, walked past neighbors with their green noses, sometimes gray, wild hair and black pointed hats. He saw some on a broom, flying a hundred feet above his head. Multiple times he’d been thankful Nicky had brought them into the side of town, a known coven of witches, where many of his peers were resourceful. It was where he met his best friend and her soulmate. He saw two heads of blond hair appear from the doorway of the house he walked towards. He went across the lawn to the front of the house and noticed that they were, foreheads together, in their own world. 

“Renee,” Andrew called. One blond girl turned to him, shorter than the other with her high heeled shoes. She had blond hair, but orange tips and an orange and black ribbon from around the back of her head and tied in a bow, pulling her bangs and loose strands of hair from in front of her face. 

Renee turned to him and smiled. Her skin shined, iridescent scales along exposed skin. She wore a white tank-top with straps the width of string, gills pointed outward both sides of her face and a long tail curled around her legs, wrapped around one ankle. She was a mermaid, like the blood of her family that ran strong, and in love with a witch. Her soulmate, who’d she found two years ago, was Allison. She was much taller, thinner in weight but proportioned well. Unlike Renee who fought and lifted weights as Andrew did, Allison got her strength in magic. She glared at Andrew and places a hand tentatively on Renee’s back drawing her back in.

Andrew ignored her and waved at Renee to follow him. “I’m heading downtown to get some food for the house. I’m going to stop by Roland’s shop.” It was much of an invitation as it always was, unsaid.

Renee looked to Allison and to Andrew. “Allison’s going to take me to the lake, we heard that Fisherman Jae disappeared last night so there’s a search happening down there. We’ll stop by after and check in. That okay?”

Andrew nodded at Renee then at Allison who nodded back. Then he took off back to the sidewalk and towards downtown where crowds of people, a mix of goblins, pixies and trolls were heading. He follows them, walking briskly, enjoying the repetitive nature of which he lived. He passed the sign that said WELCOME TO SIKLEY and underneath in smaller letters, SHARE THE SCARE. He looked up from it after running his fingers along the cool edge, over the thick font and saw bright flags. Then, a tall and lanky green ghost in a work shirt holding out pink and orange fliers. He was given one and he looked down at it to see the contents. On the sheet was the list of events that were happening this night.

It started first with a pumpkin ride, a gigantic pumpkin shaped vehicle with wheels, where monsters would get a ride around the woods and the path that went through it. There, Andrew remembered from his last few trips with Nicky, or with Nicky and Aaron, was beautifully strung lights of orange, white and read on the tree branches. The route was down into the dark forest, past the homes of troll families who popped out from their wooden houses and waved at them. There was beautiful lakes glimmered in gold from pixie dust and the pixies who inhabited the area. Next to the lakes were the Boneyard and then finally a pumpkin patch, thousands of acres of fresh pumpkin that the town grew and provided every family with. It was a popular ride, but Andrew outgrew it as he got older. He looked up as he realized the town was full of life in the early morning, crowds of monsters around him, walking across the street to enter shops or visit neighbors.

Everyone was smiling and cheerful but on every store-front there was a bleak white and black poster that yelled END OF HALLOWEEN? in large block letters. Monsters stopped in their gleeful skips to speculate.

He turned his attention and watched a very thin skeleton-man made of only bones kiss the top of his son’s head before he turned his eyes away. He caught the eyes of the man watching him from the inside of a brightly lit store, a block of colorful letters announcing the name SCARY TREATS.

He quickly crossed the street and yanked the door open with the adrenaline of a human being on what Nicky had said was magic juice . He stared into the eyes of the man who smiled brilliantly at him.

“Furry beast,” Andrew said in lieu of hello.

The man stood near six feet with arms covered in soft fur and cheeks chiseled by a bone structure that could only come from the cleanest of genes. Andrew had seen him in both his complete form and his more appropriate out-to-town one. He wore a plaid red shirt with curled hair poking out from where the shirt was stretched and Andrew focused on the way his chest expanded with each heavy inhale. He brought his eyes up and saw Roland smiling at him.

“The usual,” Andrew said instead of coming up with an excuse for getting caught staring.

“On it,” Roland said and turned away, tail whipping excitedly back and forth.

If Andrew had a working and living heart he was sure it would beat in his chest like a bird frantically banging itself against a cage to escape. Instead his body felt as it usually did; cold and dead. There was a misconception about being un-dead. Humans say that because he’s an un-dead that he can’t love and that he isn’t capable of being intelligent. He doesn’t believe the stigma or listen to it but he knows one thing for sure; He was once in love with Roland.

* * *

The store was rarely open early even on festival day but Andrew wasn’t a stranger to Roland’s kindness and exceptions. Roland owned the store and has owned it since his parents lent it to him to take care of before they took off for the human world. Andrew used to work here with his brother and Nicky but Aaron got sick and Andrew took time off to patch him up. For one celebration Andrew was kept from Roland’s gentle eyes and Pumpkin flavored sweets.

He took a seat at the counter and took account the emptiness of the shop, immaculately clean save for the few hairs Andrew found when he looked closer. He wiped them and kept glancing back to see that the sign did still say CLOSED.

“Extra pumpkin?” Roland called from somewhere else, voice muffled.

“Extra, extra,” Andrew replied, letting his fingers uncurl and rest palm down onto the counter in front of him.

“Renee will be in soon, apparently there was some trouble at the waters and Allison got hurt,” Roland said he as appeared with two plates, one in each hand.

Andrew nodded more to himself. “Someone disappeared again, Fisher Joe this time, but they always re-appear. I still don’t know why people have been getting hurt.”

On one plate there was the skin of rat, fur finely plucked and eyes removed. It was garnished with pumpkin spice covering the dish like layers of a blanket. The eyeballs of more than one rat were placed thoughtfully around the middle and the irises stared back at Andrew, dead. That’s how he felt most of the time.

He took one eye and plucked it onto the top of his tongue and considered the way it squished between the back of his teeth and on the top of his tongue.

“Good?” Roland asked, unnecessarily leaning across from him and exposing patches of hair.

Andrew got distracted and tried to cough, covering a choke when the eyeball slipped away like his concentration.

“I need a box to take home,” Andrew replied, reminding himself the reason why he came in the first place.

“Will do. Stick around, won’t you? I have a surprise.”

Andrew’s skin prickled in anticipation but he flourished an eyeball in his hand and tossed it at Roland’s shirt collar to try and get it inside his shirt.

“I don’t like surprises.”

“It’s a good one, I promise.”

“Hurry, before my brother and Nicky send a search party,” Andrew said with the wave of a hand and turned when he heard the lock on the door turning.

“Renee.” He greeted the woman who stepped inside the store.

“Andrew.” Renee said fondly. “Long time no see.”

Andrew didn’t have to look down to see that her webbed feet were leaving streaks of moisture on the tiled floor, quickly dried by the installed heat system. Her fins were more blue and green with tinges of pink that appeared when she was embarrassed, shy or flushed.

“Allison?” Roland asked from behind the counter.

Andrew felt his breath against his neck but didn’t turn his gaze away from Renee.

“All better. She had a small cut that I tended to, so she should be fine.” Renee said and took place next to Andrew.

Renee’s long reptile-like fish tail swept through the air as she sat down, leaning toward Andrew as if he were a source of heat she was missing. Her skin was always wet and slick with her own lubrication and the scales along her cheeks and forehead were always shining without the need of light. Her and all mermaids alike were glowing creatures with fins and tails. Their sneaky mannerisms that were both delightfully innocent and sinister were a welcome challenge to Andrew’s boring and dreadful life. Renee was and is a tough fish with the fighting skills of wild beast but with the kindness and sincerity of a small child. She was a living testament to Andrew’s black and white and her color never failed to seep into his every day lifestyle.

Whereas Andrew was bitter and dark, Renee was bright and warm. Both Renee and Roland were a force to be reckoned with, and they both had his back unconditionally. It was sickening how sweet it was.

Andrew looked down at his plate and realized very quickly that his appetite was thwarted by the rumors circulating town.

“Do you think it’s safe to go this time?” Renee asked, stealing the words from his thoughts.

“Maybe, we’ll have to see. The Pumpkin should have enough magic to get us there and back,” Roland offered.

Andrew considered this and took a tentative bite out of the rat skin. Delicious. He slurped it down and hummed around the bones Roland had left for him to chew on. Andrew often had bad days where chewing wasn’t an option, and good days where he played with his food like Roland did when he got hold of a stray bone, not human because that was morally wrong in many ways and against the law.

“Do you think we should go?” Renee asked Andrew.

"Why not?” Andrew shot back while rolling his finger around an eyeball, pressing it flat and letting it roll away.

“Because,” Renee said, as she was the most logical brain around, “Bad things usually happen when everything is going fine.”

Andrew took the glass full of thick red liquid that Roland offered him and took a sip. He thought about the options, weighed them against the pleasant and unpleasant and realized there wasn’t a definitive answer. He took a few more sips and watched Roland’s playful hand dance across the counter, closer and closer to Andrew’s clenching and unclenched fist. Their fingers nearly grazed when the door was shoved open and Andrew pulled away first to give an irritated look at who entered.

“Hey,” Renee said first, smiling wider than she had been before.

“I’m back,” Allison hummed.

Andrew had to look away and found Roland watching him with an intent look.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Box,” Andrew huffed and got up from his seat.

Roland came back minutes later with a box folded into a plastic bag and his easy smile on display. It was personal and the one he saved for more private moments. Andrew treasured it for as long as he could before Renee took his attention away.

“Do let us know later if you’re changing your mind about going to the human world. We can go to Allison’s for a night in. We’re staying tonight to help look for Joe before everyone comes back.” Renee said.

Andrew nodded at her and then at Roland and at Allison last. Having no further prompt for conversation he took off outside the shop and was greeted by ghouls, large green slimes with beady eyes and vampires that tried to hide their disgust. Typical blood suckers, he thought.

He went around town window shopping in favor of getting his family a festival gift and paused mid-window shopping to see a group of boys young in appearance walking in formation, covered head to toe in black clothing and black cloaks. They wore the crest of their family’s names and kept their chins high, eyes gleaming with only an arrogance the sons of the Law could have.

All five of them the sons of the important families in Beyond, their fathers the five men who made the law, the founders of Sikley. The Law were the oldest governing group who created the Great Magic Pumpkin and had ruled Beyond as five rulers for as long as everyone knew. It was their word against everything else. He went into a shop thinking he could find Nicky a gift and pushed away any thoughts of the festival, the human world and any decision he’d have to make. Luckily, time ran slower on Beyond so while humans were passing hours, Andrew had ten times that. He found Nicky a gift and exited the shop and came face to face Fisher Joe.

His eyes were black, faded with no essence of life or light, skin gray and mouth hung open like a doll. He was there one moment, and then he wasn’t, like a mirage. He looked around, puzzled and anxious to see if anyone else had seen him, but cheery voices continued. He shook off the bumps on his arms and neck and took off down the street heading back home. He had to visit Martha, a witch he knew a few houses down, who often helped him spell items in his home for protection. 


End file.
